living a Catholic life and the vocation of marriage, one day at a time.

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So, my typical method of operations is to mosey along, doing my ‘thang… until the Holy Spirit hits me over the head repeatedly with something. Then I think about that something for an extended period of time, until I do something about it. Usually I do whatever the Holy Spirit asks me to (generally a good idea). And then the cycle continues… fix that problem, we’ll find a new thing to focus on. Learn about that concept, ok, here’s something else that’s new.

Generally this is all moving me on a path closer and closer to what’s called “sanctity”.. or being holy, or saintly, or practically perfect in every way, and eventually maybe I’ll change my name to Mary Poppins (probably not).

Late last year/early this year, the thing that kept getting thrown in my path was the book Forming Intentional Disciples by Sherry Weddel. The Holy Spirit even saw fit to have the author herself come to do a three day mission that I was able to attend EVERY night of (three nights in a row). It was life changing, perspective changing, and overall confirmed for me that if I just listen to the Spirit, things work out really well.

Well, now it’s time for a new thing. A thing that’s been nagging me for months/years. But the Holy Spirit is really upping his game. First it was some inner nagging of my soul. Then some good blog posts on the topic, maybe someone mentioning it. THEN I was required to give a talk that was basically telling a bunch of awesome people how to not be like me. This week, not only have there been several emails in my inbox on the topic, but the homily today was all about it, and today there was a special email that was SPECIFICALLY about this thing.

What is, it, you ask?

Well. It’s probably the simplest thing for any Christian.

Daily Prayer.

Maybe it’s not so simple as that. When I look at others though, or ask for advice, and they are all “oh yeah, it’s no big deal”… well.. It seems so simple! And perhaps it is for some people.

Anyway. I’m just putting this out there. I don’t have any great wisdom to share. I just know that I have to do better at this thing, and maybe it’ll help someone else know out there that they aren’t the only person who struggles with this. Sometimes it’s hella hard to be a mom who stays at home, who homeschools, who has kids who don’t nap and are never quiet. There’s no quiet space to read a religious book. No quiet in which to “study” scripture. No quiet space to spend in meditation or contemplation. Heck, as I write this the toddler is in the same room as me talking to herself and the other two are fighting and causing the other to scream, while the husband cooks dinner and tries to break them up.

I don’t know what the answer will be. But I did read something today (in an email from Blessed is She) that said that God so wants us to spend time in prayer that if we ask him, he’ll move mountains to make it happen. If he can raise people from the dead, and heal the sick and the blind and the lame, and heck, raise HIMSELF from the dead and save us all from our sins… well, then he can get my kids to be quiet for a half hour. Maybe. I’m not sure if anything could get them to be quiet for that long and also not cause any trouble that would result in me yelling and having to clean up some huge disaster.

So that’s my prayer. Dear, sweet, adorable Jesus. Please let me have a half hour of prayer time with you, in one block, every day this week. And while that happens, PLEASE do not let the kids injure each other, burn the house down, break or destroy anything of value, or otherwise cause further distress for any person in this family. Thanks.